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NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE MEDIA CONFERENCEFebruary 28, 2007Ted NolanRon WilsonDAVID KEON: Good afternoon, everyone. I'm David Keon of the National Hockey League's public relations department, and I'd like to welcome you to today's call. Our first guest is New York Islanders' coach Ted Nolan. Thanks to Ted for taking the time today to answer your questions. Thanks to Corey Wood of the Islanders' public relations department for helping to arrange the call. Ted has guided the Islanders to a record of 32-23-8, good for seventh place in the Eastern Conference. They are currently eight points ahead of where they were last season after the same number of games, and with one game left on a seven-game homestand New York is 5 and 1. Yesterday at the trade deadline, they acquired Ryan Smyth from the Edmonton Oilers for Robert Nilsson, Ryan O'Marra and the Isle's first round choice in the 2007 NHL entry draft. The Islanders finish their homestand with a game against St. Louis tomorrow, the last game against a Western Conference team in this regular season. Thanks to Ted for joining us today to answer your questions. Q. The fan base has obviously gotten a surge from the deals Garth made at the deadline, but can a move like this also invigorate the guys inside your locker room? How does that go down, with a high profile player coming into a situation where you guys are right on the verge of making the Playoffs? What can the carryover effect be in the room? TED NOLAN: Well, I was quite pleasantly surprised myself walking into the room after we made the acquisition. I mentioned to a couple guys that we got Ryan. And the excitement on their faces and the smile on their faces, they looked like six-year old kids back in junior hockey; yeah, you've got a superstar coming to your team. They were excited as the whole organization was. I don't think there was one player on the team, and I talked to a number of people who have had the privilege of playing with him in the past, and they had nothing but great things to say. Q. Additionally, you hear about what a tough, gritty player he is, but is this the definition of what a Ted Nolan-type player is? Is Ryan Smyth the personification of that? TED NOLAN: You know, when we started talking about what we want to do here in Long Island, and Charles gave us great position here to rebuild the organization here, and the type of player that we want is definitely a Ryan Smyth-type of player. This guy is definitely going to make our team better right now, but I think he's going to make the whole organization better, as far as setting the standard about what kind of players we want. To answer your question, quite frankly, yes Ryan Smyth exemplifies the type of player that I want. Q. We'll go next to Kevin Allen, USA Today. Hi, Ted. Hi, Kevin. Yes, can you just give -- I don't know if this is already out there, but can you just talk a little bit about how you plan to use him and where you see him fitting in and what really you're looking for him to accomplish? TED NOLAN: First of all, I think his playing will take care of itself. We plan right now to put him with Yashin and Blake, once Yashin gets back in the lineup. That's another big acquisition we're going to be making. Yashin has been skating pretty well for the last couple weeks, and time will tell before he gets back in the lineup, but once he gets back, Ryan will probably play in that threesome. He'll get a lot of special-team play and he'll get a lot of key-situation play, and probably the most important thing is his demeanor and his attitude and his character inside that dressing room. We have a very strong dressing room right now with guys like Sillinger and Brendan Witt and Hill and guys we brought in in the off season. Now we add Ryan Smyth into that mix. It should be a very, very good dressing room. Q. I don't know if you had a chance to talk to him, but is there any concern because of the circumstances of his departure there and how emotional it must be that there would be a little bit of a carryover as he adjusts to the team? TED NOLAN: Well, you know, any time you're with one organization for as long as Ryan has, there's certainly going to be some -- a little bit of sadness leaving an organization like that that he grew up with. Unfortunately in this business sometimes you're moved somewhere else. I personally went through a situation this past year. I love being back home, and coming down here I didn't know what to expect. But being here the last six months, I immediately fell in love with the place, the weather is nice, the people are great, and it's Long Island's probably one of the best kept secrets. We have water -- I mean, it's a beautiful place. I'm quite sure in time Ryan will appreciate this place as much as he appreciated Edmonton. Q. One final question. When this was first talked about, did you really think it was realistic that you had a chance to get Ryan, and, I mean, how ecstatic were you when you realized you were? TED NOLAN: Well, there's certain dreams that you have and certain expectations you like to say, what would be the perfect guy we could try to get here, and Ryan Smyth's name popped right up, right away. As far as realistic part of getting him, we just thought it was going to be talk, then all of a sudden -- I have to give Garth Snow a lot of credit. He pursued it and went after it, and it came right down to the last hour, and I left rank and Garth called me 45 minutes later and said it was done, and I didn't believe him. It's one of those perfect -- we couldn't ask for a better fit. Q. I just want to ask you about the players that are coming to the Oilers. What can you tell us about O'Marra and Nilsson? Obviously Nilsson was at training camp. Did he play well enough? He was back in the minors. And what about O'Marra? TED NOLAN: They're two young up-and-coming talented players for sure. Nilsson, he's a very gifted player. Unfortunately, this year with our team, we had a little bit more experienced group, he didn't really get a chance, but he's going to be a fine player down the road. One thing about our prospects it's all-- that's what I did, it's prospects, and hopefully they've both developed and will reach the potential that a lot people think they're capable of. Obviously, O'Marra played with our Canada team back to back and has a gold medal, so he has some winning experience back there. I told you, in order to get someone like Ryan, you have to give up some good young prospects, and it was a good situation for him and it was great for us. Q. And what has been wrong with Yashin? TED NOLAN: Well, Yashin has had a knee injury probably about two months ago for the first time, and he rushed back a little bit too quickly. We figured he was going to be out there weeks to four. He came back within less than three. He kind of reinjured it a little bit, and this time we're going to take our time. He played nine games with the injury, and this time we're waiting for him to heal completely. He should be back, you know, hopefully very, very soon. Q. It's rare that you can make a big impact trade like this without affecting your roster at all in the room. How much of a boost is that for the guys in there just knowing that here we are adding this big guy without taking any parts away? TED NOLAN: You know, that's one of the things we looked at. When we make something, that means we usually have to give up one or two players from your roster to make a trade, and sometimes that can have an effect in the dressing room. One thing I have to say about our team, we've got some real good character-type of guys on this team. They love playing with each other, they like each other, and to make a move like this with no disruption in the room, I think that's as important as getting Ryan here. Q. Is it just coincidence, also, that Jason would have a game like that last night after so much speculation that he might not be here after yesterday and then that time passed and he had his hat trick last night? TED NOLAN: One thing about Jason, he wears his heart on his sleeve. He competes hard. And, you know, it's been a tough week on him. Every day his name was mentioned as a possible trade and what have you. He just recently had a baby and is staying up all night. There's a lot of weight on his shoulders. And then once that 3:00 o'clock deadline was over, he knew he was here, his baby was safe and sound at home, he walked with a whole different step and he played a great game for us. Q. One other thing about Ryan. Do you think there will be a time where he feels like he's an Islander and not just an Edmonton Oiler playing on a different team right now? TED NOLAN: No question about that. He's very proud of his home province and playing with the Oilers and growing up with them. So to fly him overnight and get him down here and put an New York Islanders' jersey on him, that's not going to make him an Islander right away. It's going to take some time to adjust, to adapt and all the things that a normal learning curve have to go through. So hopefully the guys in the dressing room, the community here are honored. Q. What does this do for the Islanders? I know you're sort of just -- right now you're vying for a playoff spot but you had an impact player without having to give up too much and Yashin is coming back shortly, and I mean every team that's going to be in the playoffs thinks they have a chance, but does this take your team to another level? Do you see yourselves as contenders in the East? TED NOLAN: Certainly. A player of Ryan's caliber, it has to put you in a different place. I think players of Ryan's character and caliber, he's not going to just make our team better, he's going to make everybody in our organization better. You add a player like that -- some good players can make the other players okay, but some great players make other people better, so I think Ryan is going to make our team a lot better. Q. When Mike Tucker came to Edmonton last year, it was pretty well understood he was a rental player and that he was going to play off a string and that was going to be that. How would you characterize Ryan? Is he a rental or is the push and the sell on right now to maybe make Long Island his new home? TED NOLAN: We'd love to -- we'd love to do that. I think in time -- and a player has to feel comfortable where he's playing, and obviously with the economics and what have you, but this is a beautiful place. I mentioned to the media here last night, I mean, I look up in the rafters and this my first year in Long Island I look up in the rafters and I see Potvin, I see Bossy and Trottier and Gillies and the sweaters retired in the rafters; I see four banners and Stanley Cup winners, and this is a great place to play in. Hopefully we can make this Ryan's second home. Q. How is Marc-Andre Bergeron looking? TED NOLAN: Actually he's looking pretty good. He's added something to our power play. He really seems to enjoy it down here, he's having some fun, and we enjoy having him here. Q. As a coach is it possible to help Ryan's transition at all? And if so, what can you do? And, also, your team went through a tough stretch in January there, and it looked like you guys were maybe going to fall out of the playoff race. What happened if anything you can pinpoint that has turned you around and sent you on the streak right now? TED NOLAN: The first part helping out Ryan -- you know, my coaching philosophy is not just putting players on the ice and see what they do. I think it's important to find out who they are as people. So I'll be spending some time with Ryan. Actually Ryan -- my first NHL job was with the Hartford Whalers and his older brother Kevin was playing with us at the time, and he came down and skated with us. So I kind of remember him as an 18 year old. So you kind have a little bit of history with him. We'll try and make him as comfortable as we can and help the transition. Power plays and penalty killing plays will take care of itself, but I think making him comfortable and making him feel that he's really wanted here is a big thing. So we'll help that. As far as our January, a little bit of a bad period we went through. You look at all those games, and I think at least four of them were, if not five were decided by one goal. I think the other two were decided by empty net goals that we pulled our goal tenders. So this league, anybody can beat anybody on a given night, and sometimes you get a good lead and a good balance, and if you protect that lead, you're going to win those games. We just were in a period where we couldn't get the equalizer, we couldn't get ahead. It was just a bad break week. Q. In the past this team might have packed it in after that. How would you -- what do you account for the fact that there's so much fight in the team, and is it a direct result of your personality, as well? TED NOLAN: I'm hoping it does. The people we brought in in the off season, the one thing we really wanted to do, and we looked at the season last year, we looked at almost everybody to a man talks about how they give up in the third period, how they give up leads in the third period and so forth, and by addressing those issues early in the off season, by bringing some real strong characters -- actually we went through that period where we'd give up some late where we'd have to learn how to battle and learn how to fight and learn how to compete on a daily basis and through the leadership of this team, and I'm a strong believer that ordinary people can do extraordinary things, and we worked and compete. There's a chance for great things to happen. Q. Just looking at this move, obviously you guys have upgraded very considerably up front. Do you think that you've got what it takes now to compete for the Cup, and what specific elements do you think Zednick and Smyth both are going to add to the offense? TED NOLAN: The one thing, when we made some acquisitions and bringing people in, the No. 1 criteria with us was grit and character and guys who want to battle and have a little bit of track record of winning in the past, and Ryan certainly has that, and said nick went to the bombs with Washington. We looked at it, he scored some big goals when the teams were down going into the third period. So these guys are warrior-type of guys that add to the group of warriors that we already have on this team. As far as their chances to win the Stanley Cup, it's like everybody else. I think it's wide open. I mean, if you have good goal tending, which we do, and you have some good gritty forwards and some defensive moves with the puck, everybody has a chance and we feel we have an opportunity. Q. The fact that Ryan won't have the media scrutiny in New York like he did in Edmonton, how do you think he'll thrive? TED NOLAN: The one thing you're going into Toronto, games in Montreal, we know how game in Canada. It's a big, big deal. Down here in Long Island it's not as big, but our fans are very passionate. So you have the best of both worlds. You have the attention when you play, and when you're walking down the streets, you don't have the constant hounding, media scrubs after practice, it's nice for the guys can just be who they are. It's kind of like going bantam hockey or junior hockey, you just go play and be who you are. Q. Do you think he'll thrive more on the fact that he's able to be a person that just plays hockey? TED NOLAN: Yes, I really believe so. You like the attention once in a while, but to have it on a consistent basis all the time it wears on you, and sometimes you stay home to avoid it. Right now he'll be in a great place, and it won't be too much media. THE MODERATOR: Thanks to Ron for joining us and thanks to Scott Emerett of the Sharks' public relations department for arranging the call. With a record of 38-24 and 1 for 77 points San Jose sits third in the Pacific division, sixth in the Western conference overall. Ron is ten games shy of 1,000 games coached for his career and will become the 13th coach to reach the 1,000-game coach milestone on March 18th in Colorado. Yesterday at the deadline, San Jose acquired Bill Guerin from St. Louis. Tonight they host Nashville before heading out on a three-game road trip. Again, thanks to Ron for joining us to answer your questions. We'll open it up now. Q. Hi, Coach, I just asked Ted Nolan the same thing, but what does bringing in a guy like Bill Guerin do to the guys in the locker room? Obviously, the fans are excited about picking up a big name, a household name, at the trade deadline, but what's the carry over effect in your locker room going to be? RON WILSON: I think it sends a clear message to our players that we believe in our team, and we think that by adding Bill it makes us even stronger in our push to try and win a Stanley Cup this year. We're not going to -- we've had up until the last two months, the youngest team in the league, and some people could use that as an excuse for possibly not being able or believing that they can win the Cup this year, and we've just said, you know, with Craig reef a and Billy Guerin, we believe the time is now, and we plan on trying to win the Cup this year. Q. Two questions for you. The first one, just looking at Guerin, how do you figure he's going to slot into your lineup there? RON WILSON: Well, I mean, Billy has been a solid player, possibly St. Louis' best player overall throughout the season, and what we're trying to do is find a position, and right now because he's played with Joe Thornton in Boston in the past, I've asked him if he's comfortable playing the offside on left wing. So tonight he'll play with Joe Thornton and Jonathan Cheechoo. I think there will be an instant chemistry because they have a past. I have a past with Billy and understand what he's capable of doing. Personally I think anybody can jump in and play with Joe. He's managed to make a lot of guys better. And having someone with Bill's experience, it should be a pretty smooth transition. Q. Just looking at Richard Zednick, he's a guy you coached when you were with Washington just acquired by the Islanders. What's your take of his game? RON WILSON: I think Richard -- his game has fallen off a little bit the last year or so, but I loved coaching him. He loves to score. He's basically fearless on the ice and as strong as any player I've ever coached in terms of maintaining his balance. He's incredibly strong on his feet, and I think that's a great move for them. You've got a player who just wants to crash the net and make things happen. Q. (Check colloquy) not only getting Guerin, but talk about losing the players that you did, you lost Parker, you lost Shaver. How hard is it not to hurt the whole dynamic of the locker room as we talked about earlier, not only at the end of this season but going into next year? RON WILSON: Well, you don't like to lose players. The players we lost yesterday -- well, Nolan Shaver hasn't played a game this year, and he was a callup, a backup goaltender. The jury will be out on how much we miss Scottie Parker, but unfortunately, Parks was only able to play 11 games this year because of injury and last year he only played three or four due to injury. So he was a big part of our team emotionally, but his on-the-ice contributions haven't been that great. So I'm not sure there. The same thing with Ville Nieminen. Ville has been bothered by some injuries, as well, this year and his play haze tailed off because of that. He wasn't going to be in our lineup with the moves that we've made, and this would just give him an opportunity to continue playing and play regularly in St. Louis? Q. How high on the priority list or what do you think the chances are of you getting Guerin long-term or keeping him? RON WILSON: I have no idea. That's not something that we've even thought about. I don't even think Billy is thinking about that right now. He wants to try and win the Stanley Cup. Q. I guess nothing would surprise you because you got Thornton from Boston, but are you a little stunned that Ryan Smyth did leave Edmonton? RON WILSON: Yeah, I was shocked, you know, because all the stuff was flying around. I was actually shocked when Doug called me early in the morning and said that we were getting Billy Guerin. When I left the building the night before, his name wasn't even on the board. So I was obviously happy with that. I've been paying attention to all the potential free agents, and I didn't think that was would happen. But in the Millennium NHL, business decisions have to be made, players become free agents a little bit earlier, and I think as a general manager first and foremost and as an organization, you have to protect yourself. You can't possibly allow a player like that to go for nothing. It's, from a fan's point of view it's a hard decision to defend, but from an organizational point of view, you have to do what you think is best for the organization. But yes, I like -- I'm sure everybody in the league was shocked that that happened. Q. This is a vastly different team from the one you saw in the Playoffs last year. I think there's 11 or 12 guys that are gone. You look at this team compared to then. Does your jaw just kind of drop or do you see what they're going for there? RON WILSON: No, those things happen. It's kind of funny, you look around -- I've been through it in Washington. You go to the Stanley Cup finals, you fall short, and the next year there's a dropoff. Unfortunately for the Oilers, you just see first and foremost how important a player like Chris Pronger was, and that wasn't a decision that the Oilers really were comfortable with. They did not want to trade him, and unfortunately they had to, they were forced to, and it's had a profound effect on the team throughout the year. Look how much Anaheim has improved because of that move. You had to deal one of the best defensemen or one of the most dominating defensemen who logs a ton of minutes and basically can play -- he can shut down the best players on the visiting team and also dominate the game offensively from a defenseman's point of view. Q. Is there a difference to integrating a major star into your lineup as in like December or November like you did with Thornton as opposed to now this late? RON WILSON: Yeah, you know, I don't consider Billy like -- when we brought in Joe, he integrated in easily because of his personality, and I think Billy is blessed with a similar personality, very positive outlook, a real good sense of humor. He's always well-liked by his teammates, and you know, all the players on our team know what he's done and what he can do. I don't see there being a problem in terms of transitioning. And for me, I know Billy quite well from the World Cup teams and the Olympic team, known him for 15 years or so now, and it's going to be a lot of fun for me to have a player like that on my team. Q. And also a question that I asked Ted just before, when you add a key piece like that without really shaking up the roster in the room as is? Does that make it an easier transition, as well? RON WILSON: Oh, easily. You hear all these rumors, I don't think we would ever break up the core of our youth that will be great players in this League for years to come. What we were trying to identify was we needed a little bit more leadership in the room, and players who have been in those wars, and our defense has been very young all year, has done an outstanding job, and just adding -- like Craig Rivet is going to stabilize our back end, and Billy is capable of just adding that kind of experience to the people like Milan Michalek and Stevie Bernier and even Joe Thornton, who's never played on a Stanley Cup champion. We actually don't have anybody on our team outside of Billy now who's played on a Stanley Cup champion. So we're going to be asking him to, you know, make sure he mentors people in addition to what he's going to help us do on the ice. THE MODERATOR: Thanks very much, Ron, for your time. Good luck. End of FastScripts |
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